Freakonomics

U.S. Suicide Rates Rise

News reports today discuss the prevalence and rise of suicide in the U.S. We reported in depth on the topic of suicide in our 2011 hour-long podcast "The Suicide Paradox." The episode explores t...

This Year’s Kentucky Derby Picks (And a Brand New Way to Bet on Them)

Every year I post my picks for the Kentucky Derby.  Last year I actually did well, for a change.  In a twenty-horse field, I picked three horses to do well, and two of them ended finishing firs...

What Does That Have to Do With the Price of License Plates in China?

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that in Chinese cities, the cost of obtaining a license plate (about $6,900 back in 2011) can now exceed the cost of a vehicle:Shanghai is one of four Chinese cities ...

Does Child Abuse Rise During a Recession?

How do economic conditions affect the incidence of child abuse?  While researchers have found that poverty and child abuse are linked, there's been no evidence that downturns increase abuse.  A n...

It’s Crowded at the Top: A New Marketplace Podcast

Our latest podcast, "Crowded at the Top," presents a surprising explanation for why the U.S. unemployment rate is still relatively high. (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, l...

It’s Crowded at the Top: Full Transcript

This is a transcript of the Freakonomics Radio podcast “Crowded at the Top.” Kai RYSSDAL: Time now for a little Freakonomics Radio. It’s that moment every couple of weeks we talk to Stephen ...

Parking Is Hell: Architects to the Rescue

Inspired by our "Parking Is Hell" podcast, an ArchDaily op-ed shows how architects think about the parking problem:The new car park in Miami is off to a good start, as it is definitively not bruta...

America’s Most Well-Read Cities

Amazon has just released its third annual list of the Most Well-Read Cities of America -- a ranking based on per-capita "sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kind...

Question of the Day: Should I Feel Guilty About Not Supporting Public Radio?

We recently ran a listener survey for Freakonomics Radio. Among the interesting findings: only (or should that be "only"?) 18 percent of the respondents are members of a public-radio station. A rea...

Benjamin Franklin on the Minimum Wage

Benjamin Franklin apparently understood the notion that input prices affect product prices, which is a problem because product demand curves are not completely inelastic.  Discussing a minimum wag...